Wednesday, April 30, 2008

UFC blog for latest news, videos, results, betting odds, fighter interviews and MMA rumors - UFCmania.com

UFC blog for latest news, videos, results, betting odds, fighter interviews and MMA rumors - UFCmania.com

Sean Sherk is going to make BJ Penn quit during UFC 84 fight (Video)

Posted: 30 Apr 2008 08:49 AM CDT

Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson UFC fight has been discussed

Posted: 30 Apr 2008 08:39 AM CDT

rich franklin dan henderson
When former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell was forced off the UFC 85 card with a hamstring injury, the organization scrambled to find a main event-worthy bout to take the place of his scheduled showdown with Rashad Evans at the O2 Arena in London, England.

Several possible fights were discussed, including a middleweight tilt between former UFC middleweight champion, Rich Franklin, and former Pride FC dual division belt holder, Dan Henderson.

In fact, according to a Yahoo!Sports.com report, “Ace” had to turn down the opportunity because he “felt after such a hard training camp that he wouldn't be able to peak again so soon.” Franklin just dispatched of Travis Lutter via second round technical knockout at UFC 83: “Serra vs. St. Pierre 2″ on April 19.

The interesting thing here is that even though the fight won’t take place on June 7, it is expected to go down later on this year.

That’s a fantastic match up — Franklin is proving that he is perhaps the second best 185-pound fighter in the world, defeating all comers since 2003 with the exception of Anderson Silva (lost twice).

On the other hand, Hendo needs to re-establish himself as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters on the planet. He’s lost two straight albeit to talented champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Silva.

And it wouldn’t get any easier with Franklin, but it would create some fireworks in a division that sorely needs them. It’s a nice clash of styles between two of the best in the sport.

This is going to be a hard one to predict if and when it goes off. Can’t wait.

Sidenote: Matt Hughes stepped up to take on Thiago Alves in the UFC 85 main event, as well as Michael Bisping and Chris Leben … not to mention James Irvin (he’ll take on Evans).

Wilson Reis vs. Justin Robbins slated for Elite XC Saturday Night Fights on CBS

Posted: 30 Apr 2008 08:14 AM CDT

Wilson Reis vs Justin Robbins

Another undercard scrap for EliteXC’s Saturday Night Fights at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on on May 31 was recently announced, according to FiveOuncesOfPain.com — undefeated Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Wilson Reis (3-0) and Justin Robbins (8-3-1) will meet in a 140-pound showdown.

Reis just fought on the ShoXC Challenger Series card in Atlantic City, N.J., on January 25, beating Zach Makovsky with a second round choke. He is a decorated jiu jitsu specialist with a championship in 2004 at the prestigious Mundials tournament in the brown belt division.

In addition, Reis is well known in the competitive grappling world and has made a successful transition to mixed martial arts since his professional debut — a unanimous decision win over Baba Shegeyasu last July at Extreme Challenge 81.

Robbins is more of a wrestler, but also likes to use submissions to finish his fights. In fact, he has three career victories by way of a submission.

This will be the first fight for Robbins under the EliteXC banner. His last showing was an impressive first round win at Warrior Concepts: “Valhalla Rising,” during which he slapped an arm triangle on Jeff Hodges 47 seconds into the fight.

This one should come down to who executes their gameplan more effectively. Reis will obvioulsy be looking to showcase his jiu jitsu skills and Robbins will probably use his takedown defense to try and keep the fight standing.

EliteXC Saturday Night Fights undercard bouts will all be streamed live on ProElite.com for free prior to the 10 p.m. start time on CBS come May 31.

Joe Doerksen released from the UFC

Posted: 30 Apr 2008 07:19 AM CDT

Middleweight Joe Doerksen (39-12) joins the not-so-distinguished list of recent fighters to be released from their UFC contracts over the past few months according to a report from Ontario’s Sportsnet.ca.

The recent trend seems to be focused on the 185 lb. class as Doerksen joins fellow middleweights David Terrell, Kalib Starnes and Travis Lutter on the temporary unemployment line.

The common denominator (besides being released) is that each fighter has a wealth of both talent and presence. Unfortunately, they’ve been either stricken with injury or unable to put together winning records inside the Octagon.

From Doerksen:

“(The UFC officials) made it very clear they’re very happy with the way I fight and they want me to come back, But they need me to go put a couple of wins together (first). It’s always a possibility whenever you lose. I’ve come and gone several times over my career and I’m sure I’ll be back again. It’s not really devastating news. It’s just the cycle I have to go through.”

Doerksen is 1-4 in the UFC, including a knockout loss against Ed Herman at UFC 78 and a TKO at the hands of Jason MacDonald at UFC 83. Doerksen, however, has been fighting since 1999 and with more than 50 professional fights he’s not going to be out of work for very long.

UFC Quick Quote: Jones Jr. before St. Pierre for “The Spider”

Posted: 30 Apr 2008 07:18 AM CDT

Props: Tatame.com

“St. Pierre is a great fighter, but I would never put on weights to face the champion of [another] category. My weight is 98kg and I lose weight to fight at 83kg and I would never make that. But people talks what they want and if this fight really happen, I hope to make a good performance. By now I am in fattening stage (laughter). I don't have a bout scheduled and we are trying to make this fight against Roy Jones Jr. This is a personal wish"

UFC middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva responds to comments made by UFC welterweight champion Georges “Rush” St. Pierre in an interview last week about the prospect of a Spider/Rush superfight.

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou calling in the big guns for UFC 84

Posted: 30 Apr 2008 07:18 AM CDT

Looks like Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (4-2) is not taking his loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC 79 very lightly. Sokoudjou, who was signed to the UFC after bursting onto the PRIDE scene with KO wins over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona, lost his Octagon debut to the undefeated Machida via arm-triangle choke in the second round.

The African Assassin is set to erase the memory of that loss when he faces fellow Judo master Kazuhiro Nakamura (11-7) at UFC 84: Ill Will on May 24. To help him do that, he’s enlisted some of Judo’s biggest names.

From Sokoudjou:

“Well right now its pretty much train, eat, sleep, and train more! Its been a very busy week. This week along with my regular training partners Ive been working with Hector Lombard and Pawel Nastula. Next week I will have some more new training partners to work with.”

For more pics of Sokoudjou’s training, head over to AfricanAssassin.com.

Burned out …

Posted: 30 Apr 2008 12:01 AM CDT

… been attacking this site for about the last 18 months straight without a break that lasts longer than eight hours. Even on major holidays I’m chained to this thing.

It takes a toll.

For the next day or so the very well equipped senior writer of the site, Jesse Holland, is going to steer this ship. He’s more than qualified to handle the responsibilities.

I’ll still be floating around in moderation hell and stamping out other fires, and I may even stop in for a post or two. So it’s not really a “break.”

Fortunately, our dedicated team will also pitch in (hopefully), which is nice — our guys truly love what we do here and are diehard fans who know what’s up.

It’s refreshing — we collectively don’t attempt to be something we’re not. This is a blog first that just so happens to break a ton of good industry news first.

Therefore, treat our writers and readers well in the next 48 hours or so. And don’t miss me too much … my wife and kids send their kind thanks in advance

Grand Theft Auto IV: Bas Rutten is hilarious

Posted: 29 Apr 2008 11:27 PM CDT

Grand Theft Auto IV Bas Rutten
This is a random special report from MMAmania.com reader Jonathan Zungre.

Like the hilarious car radio in other Grand Theft Auto (GTA) video games, the television in the main character's apartment comes complete with multiple channels of in-game programming.

And in the world of GTA — where everything is satirical — former UFC champion and MMA legend Bas Rutten hosts a show called "The Men's Room," which from what I can tell, is a crazy parody of Dr. Phil and The Man Show.

In fact, the show features Bas and his co-host — a little effeminate man, giving insights on issues like health and anger. Bas always seems to resort to violence in all of his examples such as bashing a coworker's head into a telephone pole to get respect, and when the co-host tries to interject Bas cuts him off within a few words.

Perhaps he doesn’t know much about Bas’ and his ability to bar fight (among other things).

And since Bas has the on camera energy of 10 men, he's constantly getting up off the couch throwing punches or demonstrating a kick to the groin, which is a thing "of pain and beauty." I really wonder if they gave him a script or just let him improvise, but whatever happened, it really works.

Here's some quotes from the show (I'm kind of paraphrasing):

Bas: "On today's show, we're going to be talking about different aspects of health, especially how to endanger the health of others."

Bas: Anger causes many things, baldness, impotence, "waking up in the middle of the night with blood all over your hands and you don't know what happened. Hey, I've been around."

Cohost: "You are so pent up!"

Bas: (clapping his hands) "I know!"

Cohost: "You should try some aroma therapy."

Bas: "The only aroma I like is the smell of burning flesh."

And watch this shaky armed kid's video right here.

You are the boss or you are the bitch. Thanks, Bas. Thanks indeed.

Elite XC DVDs on sale soon

Posted: 29 Apr 2008 02:25 PM CDT

Elite XC DVD
ProElite — the parent company of the Elite XC mixed martial arts promotion and several others — has signed a multi year production and distribution deal with Image Entertainment to release DVDs to the public, according to VideoBusiness.com.

The deal will include four annual Elite XC DVDs, as well as eight annual installments within the ShoXC brand.

Here’s a snip from Steven DeMille, Image senior vice president of marketing:

"There is a growing market for high-quality arena-based mixed martial arts content, and ProElite is the premiere source for this type of sports entertainment. We are pleased to add ProElite to our roster of content suppliers as we continue to grow both our distribution channels and scope of programming."

The first two DVDs entitled “Destiny” and “Renegade” will feature fights that include Frank Shamrock, Renzo Gracie and Kimbo Slice. These are scheduled to hit the shelves as soon as May 13.

A third DVD called “Huntington Beach Badass” will feature Tank Abbott and go on sale July 22.

ProElite Home Entertainment Vice President, Turi Altavilla, added this:

"With MMA going primetime, we are introducing the sport to a whole new audience that will likely drive demand for MMA events on DVD. Watching these DVDs will be like having front row seats at MMA events."

If nothing else besides pure entertainment, these DVDs will provide viewers — and new fans who come on board with the upcoming network television debut on CBS — the opportunity to catch up on the recent history of their favorite stars as well as build hype for future fights.

Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller vs. Katsuyori Shibata DREAM 3 fight scheduled

Posted: 29 Apr 2008 02:05 PM CDT

jason mayhem miller
Attention monkeys: Jason “Mayhem” Miller (20-5) will return to action against Katsuyori Shibata (2-3) during the DREAM 3 event that takes place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, on May 11, according to MMAnews.com.

Miller was last seen in action at HDNet Fights: “Reckless Abandon” on December 15 of last year where he defeated Tim Kennedy via unanimous decision. He sustained a leg injury because of that fight and has been recovering from it ever since.

And he’s apparently itching to get back to competition.

Here’s a snip from Mayhem’s MySpace.com blog:

“Its time to fight yo. Its on and crackin. I feel like a savage right now. An axe swinging savage. That’s right, I said it. I will be adorning myself with warpaint shortly and scalping the whiteman if he comes near my village with his smallpox infested ass.”

Miller has kept a high profile (no surprise) during his layoff, working for ProElite recently to conduct fighter interviews and other shenanigans at Elite XC events. However, he did so with a noticable limp, which I witnessed firsthand at the Elite XC: “Street Certified” show in Miami, Fla., in February.

Mayhem has won 13 of his last 15 fights. The two losses were a technical knockout courtesy of Frank Trigg in December of 2006 and a unanimous decision to current UFC Welterweight Champion George St. Pierre in April 2005.

That’s nothing of which to be ashamed.

His opponent next month, however, has not shared that same success. Shibata has lost his last three fights, including one to MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba via a first round armbar. His only two wins are to a winless guy named Ice Man (thats his actual name) in 2004 and to Yoshihisa Yamamoto (13-23) last March.

Not exactly a world class resume.

On paper, this is a fight Mayhem should win as long as his injured leg has had enough time to heal up. He’s always been a fan favorite with his charasmatic style in and out of the cage. This will be a nice opportunity for him to win over some more “Mayhem Monkeys” in Japan.

DREAM 3 will also feature the semifinal match ups of the 2008 Lightweight Grand Prix, as well as other scheduled matches.

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